Jonathan Trott claims England were not up to scratch against New Zealand

Jonathan Trott has dismissed suggestions England were complacent going into the first Test against New Zealand.

Last Updated: 07/03/13 10:52pm

Following a first day washout at the University Oval, England were put to the sword by the hosts on Thursday.

England's batsmen endured a miserable day as they were skittled for just 167, while Hamish Rutherford (77no) and Peter Fulton (46no) shown them how it should be done as New Zealand reached 131-0 at stumps.

However Trott, who top-scored for England with 45, told Sky Sports: "I don't think you would say there was complacency there at all.

"We needed to start the series well and get into the match and unfortunately we couldn't do that.

Uncharacteristic

"They bowled pretty well but we just played into their hands really."

Trott admitted the England performance, particularly the batting, had been poor.

"It was not up to scratch. It was a good wicket and we should have got a lot more (runs)," he added.

"It was very uncharacteristic of how we've played over the last couple of months.

"We tried to claw our way back into the game but we couldn't do that and we paid the price."

Trott is hoping England have got their worst performance out of the way early.

"We have got to fight our way back into this cricket match," he said. "We've got a big three days ahead of us.

"We've faced big challenges like this before. This is going to be a good one if we can pull it off."